New details released in termination of Gibson police chief
GIBSON, Tenn. — The city of Gibson is under new leadership Tuesday after the Board of Aldermen vote to remove former police chief Taylor Atkins from his position Monday night.
“If there was wrongdoing concerning the chief, the right decision was probably made,” a former alderman who did not want to be identified told WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News. “I hate it personally for him because I think a lot of him,” he said of Atkins.
We spoke with multiple aldermen who all declined to comment on camera.
Charles Summer said he made the motion to terminate Atkins for multiple reasons. Summer said he didn’t feel Atkins, who he said also teaches full time in Milan, was performing his duties as directed.
Summer claims Atkins also was disrespectful to Gibson Mayor Tony Black, other police officers and aldermen. Although when we asked about specifics, he could not comment on any one incident.
Summer said the police department was also showing a low morale under Atkins’ leadership.
According to Summer, he was not aware of a seperate investigation of Atkins by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and that this was not mentioned in the Monday meeting.
TBI officials confirmed they were asked last week by District Attorney General Garry Brown to look into reports of officers improperly seizing the vehicles and releasing them back to their owners in exchange for monetary donations to the department’s drug fund.
We tried to reach out to Atkins with multiple phone calls requesting comment and have not heard back from him yet.
According to Summer, Sgt. Larry Morris has been named interim chief for the Gibson Police Department.
